Intervention | Giannis Karounis: Orbital

Giannis Karounis

b. 1971, Laconia, GR

Orbital (2016)

Location: Second Floor, Intervention Space 1

A body and a ball on an orbit delineated by the constant, tortured attempts of one person to find their balance. For eight hours, Giannis Karounis will bring his body into a mutually dependent relationship with a ball — another body, another being that he will try to understand and fall in step with, on which he will balance in order to come closer to his true self and his own self-actualisation. The ball is his polar opposite, his mirror, his other self: the essential element that leads to balance through antithesis.

Giannis Karounis is a performer, choreographer, and teacher of dance. He is also a filmmaker, and works with director Apostolos Nikolaides. He studied dance at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance School in Boston, Massachusetts (on a full scholarship), at the Greek National School for Dance in Athens, and the Kontaxaki Dance School. He has collaborated with the XVII Festival International de Danza Contemporanea (Mexico), the Hellenic Festival, the Greek National Theatre, the International Dance Festival in Seoul, Korea, and the Hellenic Dance Company. He has taught dance at Greek Dance Cultural Centre, the Greek National School for Dance, the University of Athens, and Athens School of Fine Arts. He is a founding member of “Team Progressive”, “Athens Video Dance Project” (Festival), “Arc for Dance” (Festival), “Society of Dance”, “Dancetheater.gr” (a dance web portal), and the “Saltator Physical Dance Group”. He continues to work as a performer, choreographer, and dance teacher.